Your best self care advice and tips

[MintheMiddle]

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this but with juggling nursing exams and uni alongside home life and general day to day tasks, my self care and mental health seems to take a dip.
I’ve made appointments at the hairdressers for the next few months and made a promise to myself that I need to start looking after my skin more but what do you all do when you’re feeling a bit groggy and in need of a pick me up?

Unfortunately I have tried on many occasions to take anti depressants with little luck and always feel so unwell but my mental health seems to affect my lack of taking care of myself and this makes my mental health worse so it's a bit of a circle that I keep going round.

Any advice please would be brilliant 

Bath and wash hair
Walk outside, even if it’s only a short distance during lunch. Near trees if possible.
Tidy up nails and oil them

I find letting yourself acknowledge how you feel is half the battle. When i feel low, i have a constant narrative in my head saying "you need to cheer up/be thankful for all you have/stop worrying and moaning etcetc....then eventually i just think, well i feel low and thats that. Once ive accepted it i can calm down the narrative and start to take care of myself.

Simple but consistent face care regime, cleanse tone moisturise.

Getting in nature

Journal / gratitude

Take pleasure in the small things, birds singing, coffee, book, cake etc

Treat yourself as a valued member of the family, not a martyr. So if everyone in the family gets a haircut, new clothes, hobbies, time for themselves etc, you get it too.

Getting yourself out for a walk every day if you can, and appreciating the trees, plants and flowers, as well as birds if they're around.

With so many conscious about money right now, if you have a family get yourselves out together for a walk (even take a sandwich and sit on a bench for a change of scenery), play games - something that's cheap and you can have fun together. Also, do you best you can with your finances to have fruit, veg, diary, a protein source and some form of carbohydrate in form of potato, cereal or toast, so hopefully you'll get the nutrition you need to keep you on top form.

Patient visits the doctor
Patient: ‘Doctor, please help me. I've got pin marks in my backside and it really hurts’.
Doctor: ‘I’ll prescribe a cream for you’.

Next visit
Patient: ‘The cream didn’t help and the marks are deeper and hurt alot!’
Doctor: ‘Ok, I can prescribe a stronger gel for that’.

Third visit
Patient: ‘The gel was useless, it didn’t help at all. I’m really suffering now’.
Doctor sighs: …’maybe you should just stop sitting on the pins….’

Exercise.

I run (on treadmill) two miles each morning, as well as have a longish dog walk in the country each day. This has improved my:
General physical health,
Mental health,
Immunity,
Sleep,
Happiness,
Weight,
Alertness,
Attitude to self care - e.g. makes me want to eat better & drink less alcohol,
The look and feel of my hair, skin & body, and
Perimenopause symptoms.

I try and treat myself like a houseplant. Sounds daft but it works so at the bare minimum I make sure I get enough nutrients, water and sunlight.

if I don’t have a lot of time or energy I try to make sure the things I use every day are nice so like the loveliest comfiest PJs and bed linen and a posh shower gel and handwash that make me feel good.

Self care is parenting yourself, get enough sleep, eat properly, go to the dentist and get the standard check ups, wear sun cream, relax, don’t have loads of screen time.

I do lots for self care.

I have a luxurious evening skin routine that's soothing for me.

I listen to meditations and read a lot

I do yoga and pilates plus gong baths and things like that

I have weekly reiki and biweekly massage

I eat well and drink lots of water.

I try to prioritise a small amount of time each day and week for this as I find life really difficult at the moment for various reasons.

Good luck!

I think not expecting too much helps. There’s so much on social media, showing what others are doing, and it makes me feel like I should be travelling/cleaning/baking. But do you know what, I laid in a bubble bath for half an hour last night, on TikTok, and really enjoyed it. I’ve just sat in the back garden in the sun for an hour, bliss.
I think doing less and expecting less helps.